Palestine Will Address the UN Assembly by Videoconference
HAVANA TIMES – On September 19th, the United Nations General Assembly authorized, with 145 votes in favor, only five against, and six abstentions, that Palestine participate by videoconference in the high-level week of its 80th session, after the United States denied entry visas to President Mahmoud Abbas.
The decision came after the US refusal to authorize the entry of Abbas and his delegation, thus violating the agreements that bind it as host country of the UN headquarters in New York.
Washington argued that the Palestinian National Authority was complicit with terrorism, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed the Palestinian leadership for “undermining peace efforts” and seeking “unilateral recognition” of a hypothetical Palestinian state.
The Assembly supported Palestine’s right to participate in the debates, with an overwhelming majority of 145 members. There were five votes against (United States, Israel, Nauru, Palau, and Paraguay). Among the abstentions were Argentina and Hungary, while representatives of some other countries were absent.
In this exceptional way, representatives of the Palestine Authority will speak by videoconference during the summit stage of the Assembly, which begins Monday, September 22, at its New York headquarters.
These sessions will be especially relevant because, after nearly two years of war and destruction in the Gaza Strip, and given Israel’s reluctance to agree to a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid to reach Gazans, about a dozen countries will recognize Palestine as a state.
Among them are Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, which will make the announcement at a conference organized by Saudi Arabia and France, aimed at fostering a resolution to the long Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a “two-state solution (Israel and Palestine).”
This recognition clashes with Israel’s decision to block the new state and to maintain the occupation of Palestinian territories with US support.
The US visa denial and the Assembly’s decision recall the precedent of 1988, when Yasser Arafat, the late leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was denied a visa to address the world body in New York. The US president at that time was Ronald Reagan.
The General Assembly defied Washington and temporarily moved to the UN’s alternate headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland— for the first time since the organization’s creation in 1945—in order to hear the Palestinian leader, who had already spoken once to the organization in New York, in 1974.
The Assembly’s new determination also underscores the contrast between the Israel-US alliance and the majorities that gather within international bodies regarding the current conflict in the Middle East.
On September 18th, the UN Security Council, in its 10,000th meeting in 80 years, adopted a resolution by a majority of 14 votes to one (the United States) demanding an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The text called for the release of all hostages held by the Islamist militia Hamas, for Israel to lift all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, and for guarantees that such aid be safely distributed to the population, particularly by UN agencies and their partners.
However, the United States, wielding veto power like the other four permanent members of the Council (China, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia), opposed it on the grounds that it did not explicitly condemn Hamas nor recognize Israel’s right to defend itself.
The theme of the general debate of the General Assembly’s 80th session is: “Together We Are Better: Over 80 Years in Service of Peace, Development, and Human Rights.”
First published in Spanish by IPS and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.